HEARTS PREVIEW

Sunderland travel to the capital of Scotland to play Hearts in our fourth preseason friendly, in a game that is also former Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon’s testimonial match. Here’s some background on our opponents:

FORM AND LAST SEASON

Last season Hearts finished 7th in the Scottish Premier League, their lowest finish since winning promotion back up to the top flight in 2021. In the Scottish League Cup they went out at the round of 16 stage, they were defeated in the play-off round of the Europa League meaning they went into the league stage of the Conference League, in which they were narrowly eliminated in 25th place (the top 24 teams progress). In the Scottish Cup, Hearts made it to the semi final. Their 2025/26 season is already underway, with the Jam Tarts having played four League Cup matches against lower league opposition. There have been 4-0 victories over Hamilton Academical, Stirling Albion and Dumbarton and a 4-1 win versus Dunfermline Athletic. They’ve topped their group and will now progress to the round of 16.

THE MANAGER

54-year-old Derek McInnes has been in charge since May 2025 and has so far managed the four aforementioned cup games. As a player he was a midfielder and he turned out for Greenock Morton, Rangers, Stockport County, Toulouse, West Bromwich Albion, Dundee United, Millwall and St Johnstone as well as earning two caps for Scotland. During his playing days he won a Scottish Second Division with Greenock Morton, a Scottish Premier Division and Scottish Cup with Rangers, a second-place promotion with West Bromwich Albion to the Premier League and a Scottish Challenge Cup with St Johnstone. Previously, he’s taken to the dugout at St Johnstone, Bristol City, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock. He led St Johnstone to the second tier title in 2009, Aberdeen to the Scottish League Cup in 2014 and won the Scottish Championship with Kilmarnock in 2022. Additionally, he won the PFA Scotland Manager of the Year in 2014, the SFWA Manager of the Year twice (in 2014 and 2024) and the Scottish Premiership Manager of the Month in October 2023.

THE STADIUM

Tynecastle Park has been the home of Heart of Midlothian since 1886 and has a capacity of 19,852. It has previously been used as the venue for Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup semi finals as well as hosted Scotland national team games for both the men and women. It is the sixth largest football stadium in Scotland.

NOTABLE PLAYERS

Hearts’ top goalscorer last season was 29-year-old striker and captain Lawrence Shankland with nine goals in all competitions, he was also their top playmaker with 11 assists. So far this season, he is their joint-top goalscorer with three goals alongside Portuguese striker Claudio Braga. Left back Harry Milne has recorded two assists in the 2025/26 season, making him their current top playmaker. Goalkeeper Ryan Fulton has played three of their four games so far but shot stopper Zander Clark has also turned out for them this season and has played more games for Hearts overall. It would be amiss of me not to mention Craig Gordon too, at the age of 42 he is still playing and has a contract that runs until May 2026, unfortunately he is injured currently although I'm sure he'll get a runout of some kind. Braga is a new signing, as is another centre forward in Elton Kabangu. Kabangu was on loan at Hearts last season and he scored eight goals.

PREDICTION

It depends what kind of team we put out but I’m going to say we win 3-1. This should be the game in which we see our new signing Reinildo in action, so hopefully he does well.